Free Essays on Society Acceptance

Society acceptance J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye focuses on societies acceptance. Holden Caufield attends Pencey, a prestigious school with very high expectations. At Pencey, Holden is excluded by classmates, and frowned upon by the faculty. He sometimes separates himself from his peer group by not becoming involved in school activities. Although Holden participates on the fencing team as the equipment manager, he makes a point to not fit in by losing the equipment. Holden shows that he does not fit in, and does not want to. At the very beginning of the story Holden is expelled from Pencey for not meeting their academic expectations. As he reflects on his final day at Pencey, he says â€Å"They kicked me out... I was flunking four subjects and was not applying myself at all. They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself but I didn’t do it.† (4) New York City is where Holden ends up after Pencey. Even in New York, Holden feels singled out and ostracized. In a hotel he was staying at, he ran into a pimp who offered him a prostitute for five dollars. Holden accepts, but the next morning the pimp confronts him and tells him he did not pay enough. After a scuffle, in which Holden is injured he leaves the hotel. He feels as if he cannot go to another hotel for fear the same thing will happen. He says â€Å"I had no place to go. It as only Sunday and I couldn’t go home till Wednesday-or Tuesday at the soonest. And I certainly didn’t feel like going to another hotel and getting my brains beat out† (106-107) This shows how very vulnerable Holden is. He does not want to go back home, because he does not belong there at the moment, so he stays in New York. Holden needs the support of the world around him. He came from a generation that could not find their identity, and a society that left people with so little choice that they became bitter and angry much like Holden. Holden’s lack of guidance by hi... Free Essays on Society Acceptance Free Essays on Society Acceptance Society acceptance J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye focuses on societies acceptance. Holden Caufield attends Pencey, a prestigious school with very high expectations. At Pencey, Holden is excluded by classmates, and frowned upon by the faculty. He sometimes separates himself from his peer group by not becoming involved in school activities. Although Holden participates on the fencing team as the equipment manager, he makes a point to not fit in by losing the equipment. Holden shows that he does not fit in, and does not want to. At the very beginning of the story Holden is expelled from Pencey for not meeting their academic expectations. As he reflects on his final day at Pencey, he says â€Å"They kicked me out... I was flunking four subjects and was not applying myself at all. They gave me frequent warnings to start applying myself but I didn’t do it.† (4) New York City is where Holden ends up after Pencey. Even in New York, Holden feels singled out and ostracized. In a hotel he was staying at, he ran into a pimp who offered him a prostitute for five dollars. Holden accepts, but the next morning the pimp confronts him and tells him he did not pay enough. After a scuffle, in which Holden is injured he leaves the hotel. He feels as if he cannot go to another hotel for fear the same thing will happen. He says â€Å"I had no place to go. It as only Sunday and I couldn’t go home till Wednesday-or Tuesday at the soonest. And I certainly didn’t feel like going to another hotel and getting my brains beat out† (106-107) This shows how very vulnerable Holden is. He does not want to go back home, because he does not belong there at the moment, so he stays in New York. Holden needs the support of the world around him. He came from a generation that could not find their identity, and a society that left people with so little choice that they became bitter and angry much like Holden. Holden’s lack of guidance by hi...

Free Essays on Through The Eyes Of A Child

Through the Eyes of a Child One would think that it is impossible to read this story without being ashamed of White America especially in the third paragraph page 746. â€Å"Of my ancestry I know almost nothing.† Booker T. Washington was a man of such extensive good will and generous spirit, that he could write about his mother being purchased like a barnyard animal and, on the other hand, could forgive the purchaser as one of slavery's victims too. Up From Slavery tells his story and provides his vision of America's racial future without express hate, in a childlike manner. Through the eyes of a child, Washington depicts how unfortunate he was as an adolescent yet grew to become one of the nation's leading educators and the recognized spokesman for his race at the turn of the Century. â€Å"I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I remember on several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with one of my young mistresses to carry her books. The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.†(pp.748) Washington had a brilliant observation. Education was in fact a major issue to which would help people like himself reach freedom. Small things like family gatherings and the clothes for him to wear was something else Washington brought up in his story. Things that we know take for granted was a dream to him. The clothes he was allowed to wear were not fit for anyone to bear. â€Å"It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pin-points, in contact with his flesh.† (pp.750) This story of dreadful conditions is truly disturbing and should serve to silence those who pretend that slavery was a benevolent system. But even after recounting these hardships Washingto... Free Essays on Through The Eyes Of A Child Free Essays on Through The Eyes Of A Child Through the Eyes of a Child One would think that it is impossible to read this story without being ashamed of White America especially in the third paragraph page 746. â€Å"Of my ancestry I know almost nothing.† Booker T. Washington was a man of such extensive good will and generous spirit, that he could write about his mother being purchased like a barnyard animal and, on the other hand, could forgive the purchaser as one of slavery's victims too. Up From Slavery tells his story and provides his vision of America's racial future without express hate, in a childlike manner. Through the eyes of a child, Washington depicts how unfortunate he was as an adolescent yet grew to become one of the nation's leading educators and the recognized spokesman for his race at the turn of the Century. â€Å"I had no schooling whatever while I was a slave, though I remember on several occasions I went as far as the schoolhouse door with one of my young mistresses to carry her books. The picture of several dozen boys and girls in a schoolroom engaged in study made a deep impression upon me, and I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study in this way would be about the same as getting into paradise.†(pp.748) Washington had a brilliant observation. Education was in fact a major issue to which would help people like himself reach freedom. Small things like family gatherings and the clothes for him to wear was something else Washington brought up in his story. Things that we know take for granted was a dream to him. The clothes he was allowed to wear were not fit for anyone to bear. â€Å"It is almost equal to the feeling that one would experience if he had a dozen or more chestnut burrs, or a hundred small pin-points, in contact with his flesh.† (pp.750) This story of dreadful conditions is truly disturbing and should serve to silence those who pretend that slavery was a benevolent system. But even after recounting these hardships Washingto...

Meanings of Intelligence and Adaptive Behavior Essay

Meanings of Intelligence and Adaptive Behavior - Essay Example Shapiro, E. S. (2011) pointed out that, in assessing the students, the teacher requires combining, intelligence and adaptive behavior that causes them fall behind in their school achievement. This cannot be caused by a sensory impairment, a specific learning disability or a behavioral disorder and the onset must be prior to being school aged. For those with milder cognitive impairment, this would look like a broad form of a learning disability that is not specific to any one area. Those with specific learning disabilities and many with autism will have performance valleys and spikes, where they may be proficient in one area while being very weak in another. Cognitive impairment cuts across all learning, which is intelligence and adaptive behavior together, are important. Shapiro, E. S. (2011) asked a question on how one would assess a student with a cognitive disability fairly and accurately. The answer to that is that it will take more than one tool to do it and over some span of time. It will not be easy or cheap. First, you can use standardized intelligence tests provided they do not floor out. You can also use adaptive behavior assessments and questionnaires. The questionnaires should be given to parents as well as teachers. Next, do some real-time observations of the student in the actual environment. Then look at actual work products and compare them with same-aged peers. All of these last measures should be done in several settings and across time in order to assess the rate of progress. Assessment should always inform instruction, but in practice most of what passes as â€Å"accountability† and â€Å"performance† nowadays does not (Shaw, 2008). Shapiro, E. S. (2011) added that, eligibility for special education services requires two findings: first, the student must meet the criteria for at least one of the thirteen disabilities recognized in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) or the counterparts thereof in state law, 1, 2. Second, special education and/or related services must be required for the student to receive an appropriate education 2, 3. It is true that some students are eligible for

Reflection of Stock Market Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection of Stock Market Project - Essay Example Mostly in the stock market, human psychology gets reflected by either greed or fear. During the period when the share prices of the MSFT was considerably decreasing, fear lead me to sell the shares immediately the prices reached the original price. The Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp shares prices decreased, but for the past four days the prices have exceed the $47 price margin I had anticipated selling the shares. Greed to profit from the increasing prices led more people to buy these shares by the close of the stock market on 10th December 2014(Graham 189-98). I sold least Apple Inc. shares because the company intends to launch its new iPhone models in 2015. The entry of the new iPhones will increase the earnings of the company considerably, and the shares will as well increase. Therefore, in anticipation of the increase, I will keep the shares and sell them when the new iPhones premiers in the market. From the experience in the stock market, I learned to rely mostly on the more scientific and economic factors. Human psychology slightly affects the stock as compared to the scientifically and economically conscious factors (Graham

God's Omniscience and Human Free Will - Contradiction Essay

God's Omniscience and Human Free Will - Contradiction - Essay Example Most of the solutions or arguments are aimed at working around the problem rather than resolving it. I believe that there is no way to solve this conflict without denying either God’s omniscience or the existence of free will. In this essay I argue and attempt to prove that God’s omniscience and human free will are not compatible with each other. Omniscience in the simplest form is defined as the knowledge of everything, infinite or complete knowledge. That is, an omniscient God knows and has knowledge of everything, including what is going to happen in the future1. Human free will on the other hand is defined as the ability, power or force of a person to choose what or what not to do. In a more religious sense it is the ability or power to choose or turn away from good or evil2. Hence, definition of omniscient God implies an all knowing God meaning that God knows what is going to happen in the future. If God already knows what we are going to do in the future, it means that our actions are already predetermined and we have no control over the actions that we are going to take in the future. ... God is omniscient or humans have free will, both cannot be possible. Now let’s consider some of the solutions offered to solve the above conflict and see if it actually attempts to prove the compatibility of the two ideas or not. One of the major arguments made by those supporting omniscient God and human free will is that God’s foreknowledge in no way restricts human free will. That is, foreknowledge does not imply causality. Following analogy is used to support the claim: Sun rises tomorrow and knowing this does not cause the sun to rise. Knowing ahead of time does not restrict or cause an event to occur. Similarly, God’s foreknowledge of what we are going to do does not affect our free will to choose what we are going to do. It just means that God happens to know ahead of time what we are going to choose freely. God does not affect our freedom to choose but he simply knows ahead of time that what we are going to choose3. For this argument to work the concept o f time as we know it must be discarded. God is not restricted by the concept of time as we do. To God past, present and future exists at once, i.e, God exists outside of time. The above argument does not make logical sense and can be termed invalid. Let’s assume that humans have free will and are free to choose what they want to do. If an option A is chosen then by the earlier argument God would have known that option A would be chosen ahead of time. If instead of option A, due to free will, option B is chosen then the argument would be that this is what would have been known4. So either way the conclusion that can be drawn is that the future is determined. Irrespective of causing the event to occur or not, the future remains determined in the analogy used. Knowing that the sun

Global sourcing Essay Example for Free

Global sourcing Essay 1) What is global sourcing? Global sourcing is defined as the process of identifying, developing, and utilizing the source of supply for the enterprise through expanding purchasing activities internationally. It is a part of post reengineering activities which is an useful measure of cutting cost. Global sourcing is a typical example of foreign construction outsourcing firms which process construction by distributing each process of construction work to vendors instead of running on its own. Such construction method not only does reduce costs in terms of managing construction sites such as labor cost and equipment cost including vehicles, but also is being adopted by various companies for value-adding construction management (CM) project. For instance, global sourcing was utilized when building Daewoo Business Center at Warszawa, Poland, on March, 1997. The process of erecting the center was alloted to vendors; construction was executed by VOICE(England), design through RTKL(U.S.), facility management was duty of Dongwoo which is a department of Daewoo Group, hotel management by Hilton hotel(U.S.). 2) Global sourcing factors Global sourcing factors that must be understood and balanced can be segmented into 5 categories. First factor is material cost. The bottom line of execution of global sourcing is reduce cost by minimizing material cost. Another category is transportation cost. Various costs including inventory delivery cost can be dwindled through global sourcing. Moreover, significant amount of transportation expense can be reduced when marketing products at outsourcing regions. Cross-border taxes, tariffs, and duty costs are third factor which form global sourcing. Instead of relying on domestic production but rather outsource each process internationally, costs can be reduce by avoiding trade barriers which include cross-border tax, tariff and duty cost. Next factor is supply and operational performance. With effective resource management and cheap labor cost, supply and operational performance can be efficiently managed which enables global sourcing companies to manufacture high quality-low price merchandises. The last category of global sourcing is supply and operational risks. Cultural and geographical disparities can yield additional costs such as labor cost and transportation cost. If not managed thoroughly, they can militate as huge risks in terms of conducting sourcing. 3) Advantages of global sourcing There are three major merits of performing global sourcing; gumption to changes, reduction of cost, and trade barriers avoidance. To begin with, global sourcing allows a firm to develop capacity to cope with changes in market condition. Importing numerous raw materials and resources economically and steadily can be done through global sourcing. With such abundant resources, a firm can flexibly adopt to environmental alterations when confronting unexpected economic crisis. Secondly, average 20% of cost saving is possible. Components of products or raw materials procured from abroad is advantageous in terms of price. Furthermore, many countries such as American and Europe are sourcing materials to cut cost in terms of distribution industries. As a result, China has become the hub of production base for global sourcing. Even in case of Korea, sourcing products from China are 30%~40% cheaper than Korean domestic goods. In particular, simple functional merchandizes whose design and quality are relatively less considered are largely influenced by global sourcing. Consequently, over 70% of commodities and clothes are imported from China. Last merit of global sourcing is evasion of trade barriers. In case of global sourced goods, the price is lower, leading to economical purchase, by avoiding trade barriers such tariffs and cross-border taxes. On top of that, firms are able to acquire restricted raw materials and resource. Thus, unique and competitive products can be created. 2. Case-Study (LiFung) 1) Introduction LiFung is a professional trading company which specializes in global sourcing and was founded in 1906. It functioned as a broker between Asian manufacturers and foreign traders and expanded as a trading company later on. Today, LiFung acts as a professional sourcing and distribution firm focusing on toys and textile. Becoming an intermediary, it reconstructed the business by forming it as a connection and manager of diverse supply chains. LiFung is the representative of smokeless factory without owning any equipment and factories regarding production process from raw material to final goods and distribution of final products. 2) Business area / Present condition LiFung won the rewards in Fabulous 50 selectied by Forbes Asia, 50 for 2012 from Morgan Stanley, and The most influential companies 25 from Business week. The sales of LiFung in 2007 was 92.4 billion in Hong Kong dollars, approximately 36% increase in sales compared to that of 2006. Net income reached 30 billion dollars(2007) and LiFung Co. Ltd. succeed in gaining 19.8% increase in sales (110.7 billion Hongkong dollars)than that of previous year. After 1998, foreign companies such as The Limited, Gymboree, American Eagle, Warner Brothers, Abercrombie Fitch, Bed, Bath Beyond, Tesco, Avon Products, Levi-Strauss, Reebok have become major customers of LiFung, and Royal Ahold, Guess Jeans, Bebe also joined as major customers of LiFung in 2000. As a result, LiFung currently has 68 offices in the 38 countries, and shareholders numbers 17,900. In addition, it consists of 107,000 employees engaged in the business associated with LiFung, especially 40,000 related businesses only in the United States. Thus, it can be said that LiFung has entered plateau stage as a company settling new form of SCM rather than just being a simple trading firm. 3) Platform / Operation System LiFung is one of the enterprises which effectively employ platform strategy. In terms of strategy, LiFung adequately balances SRM and CRM strategy to manage producers and customers. LiFung distributes textile component orders to vendors as soon as receiving orders from textile industries. It makes most of 15,000 subcontractors which are located around the globe. When producing a jacket, for example, LiFung procures materials from diverse vendors; outshell is from Korea, Zipper from Japan, lining is done from Thailand, and trademarks and thread from Hongkong. Fabric is dyed in Southern Asia, China sews, and finally quality inspection and packaging are done in Hongkong. Then, headquarter in Hongkong generally manages cash flow and value-added process. 4) Success Factors Success factors of LiFung can be categorized into three elements. The first factor is IT evolution. Through IT development, product lead time dwindled through forming network among producers and customers, and even efficiently manage vendors. Another facet is SRM and CRM, especially have strength on SRM. LiFung analyze customer’s needs and scrutinize supply chain to meet the desires. Since firms tend to focus on maximizing their capability instead of in accordance with needs, LiFung can otherwise strive to fortify supply chain or value chain for customers. In other words, the key role of LiFung is to direct manufacturers of supply chain to the intended direction. For that specific purpose, it establishes education to producers on scattered network management rather than having strict control system for managing vendors, and emphasizes on trust and active empowerment. Lastly, LiFung follows 30/70 rule, which is to set a standard(from 30% to 70% of total production) on production quota to LiFung. This enables LiFung to have loose liaison among subcontractors. Minimum 30% of total production allows LiFung to possess minimum supply from each subcontractors and prevention vendors from being subordinates can be done by setting maximum 70%. The core objective of this principle is to assure vendors of gaining huge profit from being a member of the network and on the other hand guaranteeing flexibility of business and availability of a room for growth. Other vendors also benefit from the principle by being expose to opportunities to work with others, which help them to learn and come up with innovative ideas. Such principle demonstrates value of LiFung on making supply chain more dynamic and lively. Thus, change in partners frequently happens in supply chain of LiFung. In conclusion, LiFung shows contradictory management of pursuing stable and long-term partnership whereas also demanding loose network instead to forming strict organization. 3. Problem Solution 1) Wage stagnation / Pricing pressure The first problem of LiFung is wage stagnation of China. China accounts for 60% of total global sourcing of LiFung, which means that shift in China impact LiFung heavily. After the economic liberalization of China, China has been able to attract world companies as the most suitable production base due to cheap and abundant labor. As a consequence of substantial growth, China’s wage has been increasing 16% annually. As labor cost takes up the largest portion of garment industry’s costs, Li Fung’s first half of 2011 net income dwindled 18%. Therefore, there is high necessity for finding a new production base(a new partners) and gain price competitiveness through such measure. Second problem is overseas buyers’ desire to lower supply pricing due to high uncertainty from global recession. As shown in the ‘average import price of textile in the U.S.’ graph on the right, the average import price has been continually decreasing, from $3.18 in 2006 t o $3 in 2009. Heavy pressure on supply pricing is having negative impact on net income of LiFung. 2) China U.S Trade conflict Third adversity is potential trade disputes between the United States and China. This trade conflict, which is referred to as protectionism, is noteworthy of a notice as 69% of total production of LiFung is sold to the United States. The United States has criticized China on the currency exchange rate manipulation, along with accusation of exchange dumping. In addition, Section 421 is an article which can be executed in a situation where increased import of Chinese products acts as a severe damage to American domestic industries. Accordingly, it is inevitable to exclude potential trade conflict between two countries on account of high possibility of implementing additional countervailing duty by executing section 421. 3) Expanding partners in Southern Asia In preparation for deterioration of China’s production environment and falling competitiveness of China as a sourcing region, Southern Asia is evaluated as the most practical alternative for strategic sourcing of LiFung. In terms of percentage change in world textile industry sourcing, diminution of China is noticeable, as –7%, whereas Vietnam and Bangladesh show growth, respectively displaying 1% and 20% of sourcing uprising rate. To demonstrate suitability of sourcing to Banladesh, environment of Bangladesh such as social infrastructure and facilities, and educational level should be thoroughly examined. Nevertheless, wage of Bangladesh is much cheaper than that of China, Bangladesh being one third that of China, in terms of only considering unit labor cost. Furthermore, Bangladesh is likely to be significantly equipped with garment-industry infrastructure judging from the large number of textile industries sourcing to Bangladesh. Therefore, it is no hasty conclusion that Bangladesh is the most appropriate region for new production base of LiFung. 4) Quality management system Controlling over 15,000 vendors is demanding and the possible drawback is failure of consistency in quality. Since quality is prerequisite these days, stricter vendor’s quality management system should be made. One of the tools that LiFung can utilize and apply stricter is ‘Vendor compliance index’. There are six indexes LiFung should keep attention to; efficient operation, productivity, process innovation, ensuring the quality, purchase the appropriate law material, and good working condition of labor. By balancing and fulfilling following vendor compliance indexes, LiFung will be able to afford products to customer with coherent quality. 4. Conclusion The concept having used by LiFung is highly familiar to us as global sourcing is also deployed by domestic companies such as Samsung and LG. Global sourcing can be divided into two factors; risk element and opportunity element. These two elements are in trade-off relation which means that change in one element accompanies the other, while endeavoring to maximize opportunity element. Thus, taking advantage of opportunity and risk element in a timely manner is the premise for successful global sourcing and in-depth analysis on local region and strategy should be followed when implementing global sourcing.

Role of Institutions in Social Policy

Role of Institutions in Social Policy Explore with examples the role of institutions in influencing policy outcomes. The following will discuss the role that institutions can or may have in influencing public policy outcomes, and where relevant examples of such influences will be provided. The role of various institutions will be explored, and any differences in the amount or the importance of those organisations in influencing policy outcomes will be analysed. Included in this study of the influence upon policy outcomes that institutions have, will be an evaluation of whether that influence changes with the type of organisation that is being examined, and upon the circumstances in which the policy outcomes are reached and implemented within. How much influence the roles of institutions allow them in the determination of policy outcomes, or policy decision-making can depend on the functions and objectives of the institutions involved in the decision-making process. The influence any institutions have upon policy outcomes or policy decision-making processes varies with the expertise, knowledge, tech nical know how that the institutions have available, as well as the level of access these institutions have to the decision-makers that are mainly responsible for determining policy outcomes. As will be explored the decision-makers that are responsible for the framing and carrying out of policy outcomes will be more likely to be influenced by the institutions that have the most experience and expertise in the policy areas that the decision-makers are tasked with controlling and administering. An area of policy outcomes in which institutions have played roles in influencing the final policy decisions made and actually carried out has been in issues relating to the environment. Institutions that have been involved in studying the environment in general and environmental changes like the greenhouse effect in particular have been able to influence the policy outcomes in relation to taking measures to limit or reduce environmental damage. Academic and scientific institutions alongside environmentalist groups such as Friends of the Earth have played a significant role influencing policy outcomes. There are a few examples of policy outcomes that could be used in support of this statement, arguably strong supporting evidence as well (Jones et al, 2004 p. 600). These groups and institutions believe they can influence policy outcomes by setting the public agenda (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 5). Prior to the 1960s academic and scientific institutions had a minor role in influencing po licy outcomes with regard to issues concerning the environment. Policy decision-makers would contact institutions that had expertise or knowledge about environmental issues upon an ad hoc basis, for example in the 1950s when the British government wished to solve the problem of smog in the London area. On that occasion institutions gave advice as to the best way of cleaning up the air pollution that had been the cause of the smog (Jones et al, 2004 p. 600). From the 1960s academic and scientific institutions began to suspect that human economic and industrial activities were having a profoundly detrimental affect upon the physical environment. Increased concerns over the environment led to the emergence of pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, these groups have tended to attempt to influence policy outcomes by generating publicity to raise public awareness of environment issues (Jones et al, 2004 p. 695). Arguably, the combined efforts of the academic and scientific institutions and the pressure groups have raised international as well as national awareness of environmental issues. Without the publicity achieved by the environmentalist pressure groups, the academic and scientific institutions would have found it much harder to have had any kind of meaningful influence over policy outcomes relating to the environment. In turn the publicity campaigns of the environmentalist pressure groups would have a had minimal i nfluence over policy outcomes without the strong and convincing scientific evidence of human induced climate change and environmental damage presented by the by the academic and scientific institutions. These were research findings that policy decision-makers believed they have had to react to (Coxall, Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 401). The universal nature and the global scope of environmental issues has meant that institutions and pressure groups have attempted to influence policy outcomes upon a regional or even a global basis as well as at the national level (Jones et al, 2004 p. 599). Now attention needs to be turned to explore when the approach of academic and scientific institutions and environmentalist pressure groups has been able to influence policy outcomes. A good example of this happening was the problem of acid rain, which had its worst affects upon the forests of Scandinavia. Coal fired power stations in Britain were regarded as being the main culprits behind acid rain. Strong scientific evidence produced by research institutions and environmentalist pressure groups proved that this was in fact the case. Pressure from the Scandinavian governments and the European Union coupled with the evidence from academic institutions combined to persuade the British government to take action to solve the problem by cleaning up the emissions from the coal fired power stations (Coxall, Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 406). Perhaps the first significant example of academic and scientific institutions having a global impact as opposed to a national impact over policy outcomes with regard to the environment was over the issue of damage to the ozone layer. During the early 1980s there was increasing scientific evidence of expanding holes in the ozone layer, which is an important barrier against the more harmful effects and forms of radiation emitted by the sun. The depletion of the ozone layer would not be harmful to peoples’ health, and it would increase the environmental damage caused by the greenhouse effect and speed up the process of global warming. Scientific research proved that the hole in the ozone layer was caused by the chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) used as coolants in fridges and freezers, as the propellants in aerosol cans, and in fast food packaging. Media coverage of the problems that the shrinking of the ozone layer was causing increased the ability of institutions to influence policy ou tcomes. International agreement was eventually reached that the use of CFCs would be phased out with less harmful alternatives being used instead (Jones et al, 2004 p. 600). As the scientific evidence of the greenhouse effect grew the role of academic and scientific institutions in influencing policy outcomes has increased as well. Countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and eventually Britain have made efforts to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (Judt, 2007 p. 494). The efforts of institutions concerned with protecting the environment has also strongly affected and influenced the European Union, which has introduced legislation, regulations, and directives for its member states to take policy measures to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and achieve sustainable development. Attempts to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases culminated in the Rio Earth Summit, and the later Kyoto Protocol (Coxall, Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 407). Currently there are ongoing talks to renew the Kyoto Protocol. Over all policy decision-makers have to take into account the environmental affects of the policy outcomes they make decisions on (Coxall , Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 406). An area in which institutions can play a major or significant role in influencing policy outcomes is in relation to medical and public health issue. Hospitals, medical centres, universities, doctors, and nursing unions are all institutions or organisations that influence or attempt to influence policy outcomes. Governments believe that they have a responsibility to ensure that their policy outcomes if possible protect and enhance public health and safety standards. Doctors, nurses, universities, and hospitals also have good reasons to promote public health issues, mainly as that is important part of their objectives as institutions and skilled professionals. When it comes down to these institutions or groups influencing policy outcomes, those that have firmly focused public health and safety objectives are more effective if they have a strong or well developed expertise in their area of specialisation. In Britain the medical institutions that are linked with, or are actually part of the National Health Service (NHS) potentially have a strong influence on health policy outcomes. For instance, doctors and the medical departments of universities have played in developing new medical treatments, diagnosing new diseases, and researching for cures to illnesses. These institutions have helped to progressively improve the quality and quantity of healthcare services and medical treatments available, allowing for increased life expectancy. For instance organ transplants, better cancer treatments, and drugs that delay the onset of the HIV / AIDS virus have all been developed since the 1960s. These medical achievements were primarily developed to prolong both life expectancy and quality, which after all is the purpose of all medical professions (Hobsbawm, 1994 p. 556). However, universities, medical research laboratories, and pharmaceutical companies also motivated by the opportunities to raise their reputations for expertise, as well as hoping to gain substantial financial rewards (Hobsbawm, 1994 p. 556). Decision-makers that are part of publicly funded health services such as the NHS in Britain can have another major influence over policy outcomes, aside from the influence of medical institutions. That other influence is often decisive in the final determination of policy outcomes, and that is the issue of funding. The majority of the British population has high expectations of the NHS, and they expect or hope that all new medical treatments will be available to patients as soon as those treatments are required. Despite public expenditure on the NHS increasing every year, medical treatments have to be rationed out or provided on the basis of which patients need treatment the most urgently (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 296). The splitting up of the N HS budget into individual budgets for each health trust unit also means that medical institutions now have to attempt to influence policy outcomes at the health unit trust level as well as at the national level. Although the introduction of health trust units was intended to improve efficiency within the NHS, it has also meant that the medical treatments that patients may or may not receive depends on which area of Britain they live in (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 297). Of course those people that chose to have private healthcare there is no worry about their medical treatments being rationed or not available in some areas, all they have to do is have enough money or insurance to pay for their treatment in the first place (Moran, 2005, p. 54). Medical institutions can have an influence over policy outcomes when they diagnose or discover new illnesses, or when they wish to change people’s behaviour to prevent illnesses. When medical institutions diagnose or discover new illnesses it can have drastic consequences, and therefore have a significant influence upon policy outcomes. A prime example of a new illness having such a significant effect on policy outcomes was over the issue of mad cow disease in Britain. The issue of mad cow disease cut across agricultural, trade, and medical areas of government policy. The origin of the crisis began with the farming practice of feeding cattle food that inadvertently used the brains of sheep infected with scrapie, and subsequently led to the emergence of mad cow disease or Bovine Sponigform Encephalopathy (BSE). Medical and scientific evidence proved that BSE could be passed on to humans through the food chain. People infected in such a way went on to develop variant CJD, for wh ich there is currently no cure, and it invariably kills those infected. The initial reaction of the British government to the BSE crisis was slow, and seemed to ignore advice and evidence provided by agricultural and medical institutions in a vain attempt to protect the British beef industry (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p. 123). Indeed the slowness of the government’s reaction meant that the problem got better rather than worse. The government’s efforts to maintain public confidence in the safety of British beef proved unconvincing. The testing of cattle herds for BSE infection was too slow, leaving the culling of entire herds as the only means of tackling the problem. The government was also slow in issuing safety guidelines in the NHS which meant that blood and organs unknowingly donated by variant CJD victims was used in blood transfusions and organ transplants which therefore infected more people (Moran, 2005 p. 433). The whole handling of the BSE issue clearly demonstrates that if politicians or policy decision-makers within the government fail to heed the advice of suitably qualified or experienced institutions that it can have disastrous consequences in terms of policy outcomes. Tackling an issue before it becomes an intractable problem can be the difference between damage limitation, and unmitigated policy failure (Moran, 2005 p. 433). The delays in tackling the BSE issue meant that peoples lives were put at risk unnecessarily, whilst the European Union ban on British beef and any of its by-products was highly damaging to the British beef industry (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p. 123). The measures taken to restrict and eventually got rid of BSE cases in British cattle. However the gestation period of variant CJD means that it will be some time before there are no cases at all. The BSE free status of British cattle did eventually lead to the lifting of the ban on British beef exports (Moran, 2005 p. 433). Institutions have been able to influence policy outcomes when it comes to taking preventative health measures. For instance, reducing the number of smokers, heavy drinkers, and the number of people that have heart disease. Medical institutions have been aware for quite some time that many health problems are preventable, especially if people change their behaviour. An example of medical institutions having a strong influence on policy outcomes has been in reducing the number of smokers. Smoking has been proven to be a major cause of various types of cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and strokes. Anti-smoking groups and medical institutions have sought to influence policy outcomes to reduce the numbers of people killed by smoking related illnesses. Policy outcomes have included a ban on cigarette advertising, government health warnings on packets, and hard -hitting NHS adverts showing the consequences of smoking upon people’s health. Governments have also raised duty levels on cigarettes to persuade people to give up smoking, although this has only had limited success (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 297). The Scottish Parliament took evidence about the harmful effects of smoking from medical institutions, and voted to ban smoking in public places. That decision proved to be the catalyst for the Westminster Parliament to do like likewise in 2006 (Whitaker’s, 2007 p. 1067). Data shows that increasing numbers of British smokers wish to stop, 598,600 attempting to do so in 2006 alone (Schott, 2006 p. 109). Attempts by medical institutions and the Police to reduce heavy drinking have not been so successful. Whilst the government has tried to reduce the amount of binge drinking, most steps have been done voluntarily by the drinks industry to avoid tougher measures been taken. Medical institutions are opposed to heavy drinking due to the medical damage it does, whilst the Police can prove the link between alcohol consumption and crime. The government also decided to extend licensing so pubs could stay open for 24 hours a day, a policy outcome that seems to contradict the objective of reducing alcohol consumption levels (Coxall, Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 330). Britain according to research is the country with the third largest frequency of binge drinkers in the European Union, after Finland and Ireland (Schott, 2006 p. 109). In terms of reducing the risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, and strokes, medical institutions seem to have had more influence with food and drinks producers t han with the decision-makers that decide policy outcomes. Once again the government prefers that companies make their products healthier on a voluntarily basis. Governments also prefer not to alienate too many businesses by affecting their ability to make profits (Jones et al, 2004 p.599). Another way in which institutions can have an influence upon policy outcomes is by being involved with organisations or committees that can determine policy decisions. Such organisations are referred to quangos or quasi-autonomous non-government organisation, and they control many areas of public decision-making and expenditure (Comfort, 1993 p. 493). The definition of quangos is now national rather than non-governmental, as they are part of the governmental structure even they are not part of departments or the civil service. Quangos have various functions and therefore levels of power and budgets. Quangos such as regional development bodies have large budgets, and community institutions could have stronger influences on policy outcomes than national institutions. Other Quangos such as regulatory bodies like Ofgem are meant to regulate private businesses rather then being influenced by institutions (Coxall, Robbins, Leach, 2003 p. 332). Quangos therefore have a great deal of inform al power, so to influence with any of them can allow institutions to gain influence over policy outcomes (Jones et al, 2004 p. 663). Potentially institutions could gain influence over policy outcomes by having some of their representatives joining any quangos that operate within their areas of interest or expertise. Alternatively quangos often have the power to award lucrative contracts, or grant funding for research or community projects, that provides further incentives for institutions to gain access to those quangos that can decide policy outcomes. There are quangos that are linked to the relevant government departments, some of which could provide institutions with the ability to communicate with ministers. Some would argue that quangos are undemocratic, and increase the chances of corruption, although ministers can make them accountable to the government if not to Parliament (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p.371). Both the Conservatives and New Labour have made widespread use o f quangos when in government as they argued that quangos make governance more efficient (Jones et al p.664). Another way in which institutions are able to influence policy outcomes is through publicity campaigns, and lobbying the government to make decisions that favour their objectives. Such a mode of operation can mean that the behaviour and strategy of institutions is very similar to pressure groups (Fisher, Denver, Benyon, 2003 p. 171). Publicity campaigns can be either positive or negative in their tone, depending on whether institutions want to encourage or discourage certain decisions (Judt, 2007 p. 544). Examples of positive campaigning include universities encouraging the introduction of tuition fees to fund increasing numbers of students, or campaigns to fund new hospitals or new medical treatments (Seldon Kavanagh, 2005 p. 272). More negative campaigns have included medical institutions resisting any reforms of the NHS that they do not like. These campaigns have proved highly effective, as even the Thatcher government could not attempt to dismantle the NHS (Judt, 2007 p. 544). Therefore it could be concluded that institutions could play a significant role in influencing policy outcomes. However, no institution is guaranteed to play a significant role in influencing policy outcomes just because it exists. The roles that institutions play in influencing policy outcomes varies with circumstances, whether the government of the day has strong ideological beliefs, the expertise, campaigning skills, and the objectives of each individual institution. Governments will naturally tend to favour the institutions whose views and objectives are similar to their own, although governments also like to pursue policies that improve their chances of re-election. However, that does not mean that governments are unwilling to hear the opinions of institutions if those institutions lobby the government to influence policy outcomes. Institutions are more likely to succeed in influencing policy outcomes if they can provide strong evidence to back up their arguments or policy sugge stions. Governments prefer to adopt policies that they can convince the electorate is necessary to improve public services, could improve the standard of living, or prevent things going wrong. Examples of governments being influenced by institutions that have altered government policy include taking the environment seriously, measures to reduce smoking, and steps taken to deal with the BSE crisis. The failings that the initially inept handling of the BSE crisis demonstrated that institutions cannot always have had an influence on policy outcomes, and may only be consulted after things have gone wrong. 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